Braiding machine



Dec. 14, 1943. B. CARTER BRAIDING MACHINE Filed Aug. 11, 1942 wr a lllllllllllllllll flllllllll ||||l|||ll||||||IlllllllllllFHSJWJIIIIIII:

Jim

Patenied Dec. 14 i343 BEAKDENG MACHENE Application August 11, 1942, Serial No. 454,426 in Great Britain August 14, 1941 1 Claim.

This invention relates to braiding machines of the type having a number of carriers each supporting a bobbin or reel of the material of which the braid is to be made, the carriers moving in serpentine tracks in opposite directions consecutively, under the influence of a rotating horngear or like mechanism.

The bobbins or reels (hereinafter referred to merely as bobbins) on the carriers are all of the same diameter at any one time (i. e, for any one braid), and hitherto have all been arranged at the same level from the track plate, with all their axes in the same horizontal plane. However, as the oppositely moving carriers are required to pass each other without their bobbins colliding with each other, the maximum size of the bobbins, both in diameter and in length, has been determined by the size of the track in which the carriers move. If larger bobbins have been required, it has been necessary to employ a larger track, and this has resulted in an increased speed of traverse for the carriers in order that their complete cycle of movement may be made in the same time as with the smaller track. Moreover, the larger tracks have increased the diameter of the machine, and have increased the reach of the operative from the outside frame to the central braiding point.

All these drawbacks are removed or surmounted by means of this invention, which consists in arranging the bobbins of a set of carriers at different levels, so that any two consecutive carriers which have to pass each other in opposite directions, have their bobbins arranged with one higher than the other. bobbins can be used, as each may overlap into the domain of the other, but without collision, and without requiring any change in the track plate. Also, the carriers move at the same speed, regardless of the size of the bobbins, since no change is made in the track plate.

Each alternate carrier may have its bobbin at the usual standard height, and the intermediate carriers have their bobbins at a higher or lower level, or some higher and some lower; or the alternate carriers may have their bobbins arranged above the standard height, and the intermedia .e carri :s have their bobbins below the standard height.

According to another feature of the invention, the friction-drag or braking devices for the higher bobbins are carried by cross bars at the top of the carrier and forming part of the basic framework of the carrier, whilst those for the lower bobbins are carried by additional cross-bars in- This means that larger termediate the ends of the basic framework. In all cases the wire or thread from the bobbins is passed to an eye at the top of the framework (after passing below the usual weights), and such eyes are positioned so that the wire or thread on one carrier shall not foul any part of the adjacent carriers.

The degree of saving of time, etc, will vary according to the increase of size which the selected new positions of the bobbins will allow. In some cases, the increased capacity of the bobbins may be as much as 200% reckoned on the length of wire or thread Which they will hold. In one particular case the carriers of a braiding machine in which the normal bobbins are 1% inches in diameter. were modified by having the bobbin raised and lowered respectively from the normal level, so that they could be increased to 2 inches diameter, the distance between the flanges of each bobbin remaining the same, and the track and horngear remaining unaltered.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of two consecutive carriers and a portion of the track plate and horn gear below them;

Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.

As shown, each carrier comprises a base I, slidable in the slots 2 of the track plate 3, a pair of uprights 3 and a crossbar 5 at the top of those uprights. Slidably mounted on the up rights Ll is a weight 6, having guide rollers l to receive the wire. The bobbins 8 are rotatably mounted on suitable pins, between the uprights l, and each is provided with a friction member 9 carried by a curved plate iii, which member is urged against the peripheries of the bobbin flanges by a compression sprin H. The spring H encircles a stud E2 on the curved plate It), and is adjustable as to its pressure on the plate, by means of the adjustment screw 13.

As will be seen from Fig. 1, the screw it for one carrier is housed in the crossbar 5, while that for the adjacent carrier is housed in an additional crossbar l 4 carried by the uprights 4i. Each crossbar 5 has an extension I5 in which is an eye it: to receive and guide the wir or thread after it leaves the guide rollers l.

The alternate carriers are arranged with the bobbins at a higher level than those of the intermediate carriers, a will appear from Fig. 1, so that bobbins of larger diameter may be employed with the sam track plate, and the bobbins remain clear of each other at all times. The vertical distance between the centres of adjacent bobbins may vary according to the diameter of bobbin it is desired to adopt. The bobbin spindles I! will be retractable in the normal way, to facilitate replacement of the bobbins, and will be held in position by the springs 18 in known manner.

The carriers have an extension it below the ba e I to engage the driving mechanism 23 in the normal way.

In addition to allowing of an increased capacity, by providing larger bobbins on all the carriers, the invention allows of some only of the bobbins (say, every alternate bobbin) being of larger size, without requiring alteration of the track plate. This arrangement would allow of the use of wires or threads of different size, where equal lengths would necessitate differently sized bobbins.

What I claim is:

A pair of carriers for a braiding machine, ar-

ranged consecutively in the track plate of the 20 machine, each carrier comprising a base, a pair of uprights extending from the base, a crossbar connecting the uprights of each pair together at their upper ends, an additional crossbar between the uprights of one carrier below their upper end, a retractable spindle and a bobbin thereon in the one carrier below said additional crossbar, a retractable spindle and bobbin thereon in the other carrier at a higher level than that in the one carrier, spring-urged friction means acting between the said additional crossbar and the bobbin below it, similar springurged friction means acting between the crossbar of the other carrier and the bobbin below it, a guide eye in the crossbar at the upper end of each carrier and sliding weights at the lower end of each carrier with guide rollers for the material leaving the bobbin.

BEN CARTER. 

